The three gang associates are charged with first-degree murder in the Bacon slaying and the attempted murder of four others in the vehicle with the notorious Red Scorpion leader that day.

Crown prosecutor Dave Ruse said in his opening statement that former associates of the accused would testify against them in the coming months.

And he said DNA of all three accused was found on hoodies and a ball cap discarded after the murder.

Jonathan Bacon in June 2008RICK COLLINS /
PNG

Hunter was the first witness to take the stand in a new high-security courtroom. The Kelowna Law Courts are in the same city block as the hotel where Bacon was killed about 2:40 p.m. on a summer Sunday.

She said she raced over to the white Porsche Cayenne that had crashed after being sprayed with gunfire.

The driver — who she learned was Hells Angel Larry Amero — was slipping in and out of consciousness.

She thought he was going to die.

“He was covered in blood and broken glass. He had a very large gaping wound on his arm. And he looked to be coming to and then passing out,” Hunter said.

She also saw victim Leah Hadden-Watts, who was paralyzed in the shooting, slumped forward in the back seat.

“There was a gaping wound on her back. And I thought there were parts of her spinal cord that I could see. She was motionless. I thought initially she was dead,” Hunter said.

Beside her was Lyndsey Black, struck in both legs by bullets, and crying — “hysterical crying, screaming” — Hunter said.

Bacon had already been pulled out of the Porsche and bystanders were attempting CPR.

“Amongst all of the screaming, there was somebody that had screamed that they were losing him and wanted to know where the ambulance was,” Hunter recalled.

“I remember vividly the colour of the male’s skin. It was the wrong shade. It was grey.”

Earlier in the day, Ruse laid out the Crown’s theory of the case.

He said that former gangsters-turned Crown witnesses would testify that all three accused were part of the team hunting Amero, Bacon and James Riach because the late Sukh Dhak believed the trio was behind the murder of his brother Gurmit in Burnaby in October 2010.

The Crown witnesses are also expected to testify that Khun-Khun, McBride, Jones and a fourth man, Manny Hairan, arrived in Kelowna early on the morning of Aug. 14, 2011 to kill Amero and his friends after they had been spotted partying in this lakeside resort town.

“They went and attended various bars, various clubhouses, including the Throttle Lockers and the Hells Angels, in an effort to locate Mr. Amero’s associates,” Ruse said.

The accused walked along the waterfront behind the Delta Grand Hotel where Amero and his group were staying and “saw a large orange boat named ‘Steroids and Silicone’ tied up. … Mr. McBride recognized that as Larry’s boat, and instructed them to keep their eyes open,” Ruse said.

Later that day, the Dhak associates went back to the hotel and waited.

Amero, Bacon, Riach, Hadden-Watts and Black had checked out and gotten into Amero’s Porsche. The Hells Angel was driving. Bacon was in the front. The women were in the back beside Riach, who was uninjured in the shooting.

“A Ford Explorer pulled up to the passenger side of the Porsche. Gunmen opened fire from within and outside the Explorer,” Ruse said.

“The gunman eventually got into their vehicle and sped off along Cawston (Avenue).”

Ruse said the three firearms believed to have been used in the murder — a Glock and two Norincos — were found months later dumped at a construction site north of Kelowna.

The clothing was found dumped inside a recycling bin at another location. Not only was there DNA matches to the accused, but a drop of Amero’s blood was found on one of the hoodies.

Police recovered 45 shell casings and two live rounds from the crime scene, Ruse said.

Before the evidence began Monday, the accused, each wearing a suit, stood and listened as the murder and attempted murder charges were read against them. One by one, they said “not guilty” to each count.

Betton was going to issue his ruling Monday on a defence application to stay the charges due to the length of time the case has taken to get to trial.

But said he needed more time to consider the arguments heard over the last two weeks and will release his ruling next week.

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